


A Beautiful Lie

by JustAnotherUnderstudy



Series: This Should Totally Be A Thing [12]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond (Movies), James Bond - All Media Types
Genre: Age Difference, Angst, Angst and Feels, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Death, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Older Woman/Younger Man, Past Character Death, Sad, Sad Ending, Tears, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-20 15:33:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10665606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherUnderstudy/pseuds/JustAnotherUnderstudy
Summary: This is not the happy ending fix-it you are looking for.





	A Beautiful Lie

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tayryn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tayryn/gifts), [saye0036](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saye0036/gifts), [detectivecaz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/detectivecaz/gifts), [Lilibet2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilibet2/gifts), [TemporaMores](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TemporaMores/gifts), [jisforjudi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jisforjudi/gifts), [bufan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bufan/gifts).



> I had a few minutes the other day and this popped into my head. Didn't have time to put it in a setting. I picture him visiting Olivia's grave after he returns for formal retirement. It can be any kind of day you want.

  _Life asked Death,_  
_Why do people love me,_  
_But hate you?_

_Death responded,_  
_Because you are a beautiful lie_  
_And I'm the painful truth._

James Bond was no hero. He readily acknowledged that fact. He was a prideful, self-absorbed...how had she said it?...sexist, misogynist dinosaur.

There had been some who'd mistakenly believed he was a hero.  Upon retiring he'd received accolades and honors from M and the Prime Minister. There were whispers amongst the staff at MI6 that his number might be retired. It was an absurd rumor but it highlighted how highly people thought of him. It equally highlighted how little anyone knew him.

She'd known. At least he'd always thought she'd known. She was always the first to remind him he was replaceable. She was the one who called him on the carpet when he fucked everything up.

But in the end, she'd put her trust in him. And in the end it was that trust, that faith in him, that got her killed.

He shouldn't have been so needy to be put back into service. When she told him he'd have to undergo tests he should have acknowledged he was in no condition.

But he had fucked up again and he had to prove himself to her once more. He had to make her see that he was worthy. And that nasty little part of him, the one that had kept him from returning after she'd had him shot, the one that wanted her to suffer, or, rather, hoped she suffered, that part could never quit.

When she signed off on his tests though he knew he'd passed none of them, it should have been proof enough for him of her faith in him.

But, in the end, James Bond was no hero.

A hero would have only gone on if he thought Queen and country were at risk, and if he knew there was no one else standing in the wings, waiting to help in his stead.

A true hero would have acknowledged his need for help, he would have admitted his weaknesses.

If James Bond had been a hero, he'd have told her thank you for your confidence in me but there are others who would be better for this job.

But James Bond was no hero.

James Bond was just a man. A man who realized too late that the thing that drove him had never been Queen and country, or even the excitement and the women.

In the end, James Bond discovered, as he held Olivia in the Kirk, he was simply a man in love who would do anything for the woman he loved.

**Author's Note:**

> Getting ready for a week and a half of no days off. All this work really hinders writing. :D Am trying to read things though. Been loving it all just not enough time to comment. Hope you all had a great Easter.
> 
> Speaking of...sorry no Easter story. Just no time these days. Guess that's good for my pocket book. :)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [I'll watch over you](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12530212) by [AbbyGibbs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbbyGibbs/pseuds/AbbyGibbs)




End file.
